Amid speculations that the elections to five State Assemblies could get postponed beyond May in the wake of increasing cases of Omicron, the Election Commission held discussions with the Union Health Ministry and security agencies here on Monday. Sources indicate that the poll panel will take a final decision after holding another round of meetings with the chief secretaries of the poll-bound States. The panel is expected to announce election dates in January.
Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan briefed the panel about the situation. Bhushan is learnt to have conveyed to the Commission about the steps taken by the Centre and the States to handle the rising cases of Omicron, made a presentation with statistics specifically on the situation in Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. Senior officials of ITBP, BSF and SSB also met the Commission members.
Panel to visit UP
The panel will visit Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday. The Allahabad High Court had urged the Centre and the Commission to postpone the UP assembly elections for a month or two to check the spread of the pandemic.